PROJECT TRACKER: Rebuilding Taunton City Hall

Friday

Feb 14, 2014 at 10:48 PMFeb 14, 2014 at 10:52 PM

Axis Insurance, the city’s former insurance carrier, initially agreed to pay $4.8 million as per its policy agreement. But the Georgia-based Axis, a subsidiary of Axis Capital Holdings of Bermuda, withheld nearly $1.6 million, resulting in the city filing a $6 million suit in 2012 seeking damages from both Axis and Taunton’s Farrell Backlund Insurance Agency.

Charles Winokoor Taunton Gazette Staff Reporter @cwinokoor

Days since fire: 1,309

The details

An arsonist set a fire in the fourth-floor attic of Taunton’s City Hall on the morning of Aug. 17, 2010. The smoky blaze was short-lived, but water used to extinguish the fire damaged ceilings and walls, many of which were subsequently demolished.

City departments that previously had been in the historic building at 15 Summer St., located across from Church Green, were moved to temporary lodgings in the vacant Lowell M. Maxham School on Oak Street.

The city faces the task of securing funding to repair and renovate city hall: Estimates so far have ranged from $15 million to $23 million.

Axis Insurance, the city’s former insurance carrier, initially agreed to pay $4.8 million as per its policy agreement. But the Georgia-based Axis, a subsidiary of Axis Capital Holdings of Bermuda, withheld nearly $1.6 million, resulting in the city filing a $6 million suit in 2012 seeking damages from both Axis and Taunton’s Farrell Backlund Insurance Agency.

The progress

In late 2013, the city took possession of the Star Theater/Leonard Block building at 107-111 Main St., located directly next to City Hall, from owner Michael O’Donnell.

After a nearly four-year court case, a housing court judge ruled that O’Donnell had failed to make significant structural repairs and had also failed to remove debris and junk from inside the four-story structure — which the city will demolish in order to facilitate the renovation of City Hall.

City Solicitor Jason Buffington said a pre-demolition survey by engineering firm BETA Group had finally been completed Friday morning after a series of unforeseen delays. The purpose of the survey is to ensure that surrounding buildings, like City Hall and the abutting New York Lace, are not damaged during demolition.

This week, Buffington told the City Council his office had been granted a waiver, by the state’s Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance (DCAMM), of the standard requirement to advertise a bid request as per public bidding laws.

The waiver, Buffington said, will expedite the hiring of a DCAMM-certified company to safely demolish the Star by allowing the city to approach those companies for competitive bids, as opposed to a lengthy process of placing ads and waiting for a response.

He said it won’t be difficult to identify a qualified candidate.

“There are not a lot of major demolition companies with the qualifications and experience to handle a job of this magnitude,” Buffington said.